Imagine this supergroup: Chris Thile, Chris Eldridge, Paul Kowert, Noam Pikelny, Gabe Witcher, Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan. The biggest bluegrass high of the summer rolls through town with the proggy, hypnotic stringmasters Punch Brothers joining female triple threat I’m With Her—playing sets of their own and together—for acoustic bliss.
As competition has grown among Charlottesville’s high-end grocery stores, a trend has emerged of adding bars. I’ve walked past these odd grocery store bars countless times but it has never occurred to me to pull up a stool and order a glass of beer before picking up milk and vegetables. Which invites the questions: Who in the heck goes to a grocery store bar—and why do they do it?
An investigation was needed. A Saturday night pub crawl, in which I was determined to drink beer at three area grocery store bars, ensued. I enlisted the help of a few friends: Jeff Diehm, Jeff’s girlfriend, Sierra Hammons, and Colleen Buchanan, our designated driver.
The bar at the Barracks Road Harris Teeter is tucked in along the wall behind the wine section, at the front end of the store. It’s easy to miss. Three patrons were perched atop bar stools as we approached. A baseball game was playing on a large TV and six taps stood near a wide selection of bottled beer. If you look straight ahead, it kind of feels like a normal bar. Turn around and you’ll see, well, a grocery store.
When we saw the prices, it started to feel less like a normal bar—in a good way. All six draft beers are $4 a pint, all the time. Bottles are $3—and that isn’t just Bud Light. Three bucks will get you a bottle of nearly any of the hundreds of 12-ounce bottled beers that Harris Teeter carries.
“We have really good prices and really good food here,” said Charles, our bartender.
Charles was right. It turns out that you can buy any prepared food from the deli section and bring it over to the bar to eat. Not only can you do this, but they encourage it: You get $1 off your beer with the purchase of a prepared food item.
There is no other bar in Charlottesville where you can eat and drink at these prices. The taps from Three Notch’d and Starr Hill cost less for a pint than at those breweries.
A woman walked over with, inexplicably, a basket of laundry and a dog. She ordered a beer and began chatting with another patron. Even at the grocery store, bars have colorful regulars.
Jeff got up, grabbed a bag of pretzels from the snack aisle and opened them on the bar. Charles scanned them and added them to our tab. In fact, your whole cart of groceries can be rung up while you sip a pint of beer or a glass of wine (the bar does not offer liquor).
“I just switched grocery stores,” Jeff declared.
Reluctantly, we pushed off to Whole Foods.
The bar at Whole Foods was built with better materials and décor than the one at Harris Teeter. And our bartender, Brenden, was knowledgeable and helpful. But it wasn’t the same kind of place.
“On Friday nights, you get a lot of single people with pizza for one who stop here for a drink before going home,” a woman seated at the bar told me. “It’s like their moment of feeling like they’ve interacted with the world.”
An eight-ounce pour of a beer called Dragon’s Milk cost $8. That set the tone for the rest of the tap list, which isn’t cheap. But Whole Foods does have a barroom edge most customers probably don’t know about: They’ll honor a growler from anyone.
We felt a sense of being physically in the way at the Whole Foods bar. Repeatedly, shoppers with carts and baskets mumbled a “pardon me” as they pushed past us. The traffic flow discouraged us from lingering, but Whole Foods does have its own set of regulars, some who stop by every day.
Duly restrained, we moved on to our final stop of the night: Wegmans.
The Charlottesville Wegmans dropped in last year like a fortress of food. You measure that place in acres, not square feet. And it set aside a corner of that acreage for a bar and restaurant called The Pub. The space feels luxurious compared with other grocery store bars.
“This is basically an airport bar with different things rolling by on wheels,” Jeff observed.
Wegmans went to lengths far beyond Harris Teeter or Whole Foods with a full-service restaurant and bar, including mixed drinks. Sometimes it even has live music.
Wegmans has nine taps, mostly between five and six bucks per pint. It has a happy hour from 4-6 pm, Monday through Friday, and $5 appetizers, including mussels and a barbecue-bacon burger. We snacked on perfect fresh, raw, salty Chesapeake Bay oysters.
Jeff was right. Wegmans bar does feel like an airport bar, but it doesn’t drain your wallet the way a typical airport bar does. I can see how someone who lives nearby might pick this as his neighborhood hangout, and stop by often for a few pints and a burger, or a dozen oysters.
“I enjoyed Harris Teeter the most,” Sierra says. “I felt like I was less in the way than at Whole Foods. …I would definitely go there again to pregame before going downtown where the more expensive beers are.”
The unanimous winner of the night was Harris Teeter, for selection, value, food and atmosphere. Charles’ service as bartender sealed the deal. But at any of Charlottesville’s grocery store bars, there is a deal waiting for the adventurous, the weird and the cheap.
The man who was convicted of abduction with intent to defile and who spent two-and-a-half years in jail before the alleged victim’s story fell apart filed suit July 14 against the former commonwealth’s attorney who prosecuted him.
Mark Weiner, now living in Maryland, filed a civil lawsuit in federal court July 14—exactly two years after the day he was released from jail—against Albemarle County, the commonwealth’s attorney office and Denise Lunsford.
In December 2012, former Food Lion manager Weiner offered a ride to then-20-year-old Chelsea Steiniger, whose boyfriend had refused to let her spend the night. Steiniger claimed that Weiner put a cloth over her face with a mysterious agent that rendered her unconscious, used her phone to send taunting texts to her beau, and that she awakened in an abandoned house on Richmond Road, where she grabbed her phone, leaped off a second floor deck and escaped.
After Weiner was convicted in May 2013, his lawyer complained that Lunsford prevented him from entering exculpatory cell tower records that showed Steiniger was likely at her mother’s house.
The case became a national story and was a major factor in Lunsford’s unsuccessful bid for a third term in the November 2015 election, when Republican Robert Tracci unseated her.
Weiner’s civil attorney, Barton Keyes, is a member of a wrongful conviction practice in Columbus, Ohio.
Despite the formidable immunity Lunsford had as prosecutor, Keyes says, “We think in this case, the circumstances will let us hold her accountable.”
The complaint did not specify monetary damages but Keyes says, “Mark spent over two years in prison. We’re talking substantial damages.”
Lunsford sent a statement through her Richmond McGuireWoods attorney and says she conducted her duties as commonwealth’s attorney “diligently, ethically, and to the best of my abilities.” She says she’s proud of her service in protecting the interests of justice and safety in the community. “As a private citizen now, I intend to defend my personal and professional reputation in court, and not in the press,” says Lunsford.
Tracci issued his own statement: “Because the office I serve is named in this suit, I will reply to its merits when appropriate and in due course. Without speaking to the merits of this suit, my personal views concerning the handling of the Mark Weiner case are widely known and a matter of crystal clear record.”
Experts say prosecutorial immunity will be a tough hurdle for Weiner to overcome.
“The main legal obstacle to holding prosecutors accountable for misconduct that leads to wrongful convictions is that they have absolute immunity for civil damages for their lawyering in the courtroom,” says UVA Law’s Brandon Garrett. It’s even harder to know if prosecutors concealed evidence of innocence “because in states like Virginia, they need turn over so little of what is in their files,” he adds.
Steve Rosenfield was an attorney in one of the few successful civil suits waged in a wrongful conviction, in which his client, Earl Washington Jr., came within nine days of execution. Rosenfield says Weiner “is on solid footing morally. Legally, he’s likely to run into serious barriers.”
Deirdre Enright heads UVA’s Innocence Project Clinic, and three years ago she said Weiner’s case “had all the earmarks of a bad case because it didn’t make sense.”
Immunity makes prosecutors and police “Teflon to meaningful consequences,” even though their misconduct is a leading cause of wrongful convictions, she says. “The average citizen will pay a fine for a broken taillight, but most prosecutors won’t pay a dime for their role in wrongfully convicting someone, however nefarious their conduct.”
Keyes says Lunsford proceeded to prosecute “despite clear evidence that contradicted [Steiniger’s] story. Most egregious, he says, was that it appears “the prosecutor was thinking her sole role was to secure a conviction when in reality a prosecutor’s job is to secure justice.”
A quick to-go bite to eat on the Downtown Mall is sometimes hard find, but Andy McClure, owner of the Virginian Restaurant Company, is making it easier with the opening of Penny Heart, a new lunch spot and small event venue that’s going into the former 11 Months space.
“Our fast casual options [on the mall] are very limited,” says McClure when asked about his new eatery, which will serve bowls with fresh, local ingredients and grains. “[Penny Heart] comes from a need and it’s appropriate.”
He describes the restaurant as a cross between Chipotle and Sweetgreen, which mixes produce, meats and grains into one bowl, adding that the goal is to use as many local ingredients as possible. The bowls are designed to be taken away, and Penny Heart will also have a bar. The space has room for about 100 guests, and it is fully equipped with audio and visual components for weddings, company meetings or other gatherings.
Small, affordable [event] venues are hard to come by, McClure says. “There’s a larger market for that than we realize,” he says, adding that since Penny Heart will only be open from 11am to 4pm, the space will be ready as a venue by 6pm.
The anticipated opening date is Aug. 10, and McClure says it will be a quiet, casual grand opening.
Carpe Donut has gone beyond the cinnamon sugary, cakey confection it’s known for—all-organic maple, bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, sprinkles, thick-cut antibiotic-free bacon and a vanilla cake donut have been added to a sweet new menu that’s being rolled out for the company’s 10th anniversary.
Matt Rhodie, Carpe Donut CEO and founder, says the discovery of organic confectioners sugar allowed more experimentation.
“I’m trying to expand the identity of Carpe Donut,” Rhodie says. The team has been working on flavors for years, but had to find the right ingredients that align with their ideals. All of the new ingredients are organic and pure, including the sprinkles, which use vegetables for color.
“Everybody loves sprinkles, so I had to do it. Kids love them, an embarrassing number of grown-ups love them, so who am I to deny that?” Rhodie says.
Some of the new flavors are available at the Charlottesville City Market on Saturdays, Fridays After Five and at the Carpe Cafe in Studio IX. Rhodie plans to offer a few more flavors, including new combinations, at special events and festivals.
“I will not stop experimenting, and we may swap some out,” Rhodie says. “Some glazes may be less interesting than something that’s fruit infused, so I’m open to trying more flavor profiles.”
You can thank UVA students for convincing the owners of Kung Fu Tea, a new bubble tea room, to open shop in Charlottesville. By the end of August, 1001 W. Main St. will be home to trendy Taiwanese tea elixirs with signature tapioca or fruit bubbles at the bottom.
Co-owners Kelly Tran and Owen Wang are from Northern Virginia, where bubble tea is everywhere, but they say their Charlottesville store will be the biggest in the world.
As for the shop’s offerings, “Passion fruit blew my mind…everything on the menu is mind-blowingly good,” Tran says. Among the other teas on Kung Fu’s top 10 list are strawberry lemon green tea, Kung Fu milk tea, honey green tea and taro slush. The bubbles, or bobas, are then added at the bottom for a chewy, squishy treat to be sucked through a massive straw.
Tran says he’s excited to join the Charlottesville community with Kung Fu Tea after multiple career changes.
“You have to dabble in everything,” he says.
What pairs perfectly with a local craft beer? Chocolate. Gearharts Fine Chocolates has created unique truffles in collaboration with a handful of local breweries, including Devils Backbone Brewing Company, Champion Brewing Company, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery and Alexandria-based Port City Brewing Co., which have their signature beers infused into milk or dark chocolate, along with more delectable ingredients to make up The Virginia Brewers’ Collaboration.
“Wine and chocolate go great together, but I’ve always had a soft spot for beer and chocolate,” say Gearharts’ owner Tim Gearhart.
This article was updated August 23 to correct Kung Fu Tea owner Kelly Tran’s name.
Christopher Cross didn’t know it at the time, but when his massive hit “Sailing” blew through the speakers of car stereos and beach radios in the summer of 1980, it was charting the course for a niche musical genre to emerge 25 years into the future. Three Sheets to the Wind rides the current wave of yacht rock with smooth sets programmed with quiet-storm favorites. Former member of the Pavilion team Joseph Aaron returns to play the opening set on a stage he once helped operate.
What is there to do to pass the time when you’re living at sea on a tiny sailboat with only your partner for company? Starting an award-winning band is always a good option. Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, the duo that comprises Tennis, began writing songs to document their adventures on the ocean. Now, their buoyant indie pop is a treat for audiences here on land.
Sperryville artist Adam Disbrow isn’t interested in mimicking realism; after all, “a camera can do that,” he writes in an email. Instead, he communicates with his audience through abstract, minimalistic images, using layers of objective symbols to create a wholly subjective piece of art.
His latest exhibition, opening at the Music Resource Center on August 4, approaches a concept that’s as subjective as it gets: the perception of beauty. “A Portrait of Beauty” is a series of starkly simple paintings that explores the superficial draw toward beautiful things that defines us as humans.
The first portrait in the series, the show’s namesake, pares down a female profile to just thick black hair, an extended hand, a single eye and a pair of red, red lips. Even with just these basic features, she still has something to say to the viewer. “I believe in the power of symbols as a medium to convey feelings and information,” says Disbrow. —Julia Stumbaugh
Art on the Trax 5784 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “An Exhibition of Chair Drawings,” featuring chair sketches from local craftsman Joe Sheridan. Opens August 12, 4-6pm.
FF Central Library 201 E. Market St. “Gone,” featuring photographs of businesses, buildings and local landmarks that were lost to disaster or development and now remain only in photographs and memories. 5-7pm.
FF CitySpace Art Gallery 100 Fifth St. NE. “Rio+29 Small Area Plan,” a placemaking exhibit of maps and diagrams. 5:30-7:30pm.
Crozet Artisan Depot 5791 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “The Light Chaser: Plein Air Paintings of Virginia,” an exhibition of plein air landscapes celebrating the beauty of everything from Monticello to Skyline Drive. Opens August 12, 2-5pm.
FF C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St. “Birds and Bees, Flowers and Trees,” featuring ceramic jewelery inspired by the natural world from Jennifer Paxton. 6-8pm.
FF The Garage 100 E. Jefferson St. “Recent Work,” featuring acrylic and pencil on paper and canvas by Frank P. Phillips. 5-7pm.
FF Graves International Art 306 E. Jefferson St. “Roy Lichtenstein & Company: Postwar and Contemporary Art,” featuring handmade, limited-edition prints and exhibition posters by artists such as Lichtenstein, Gerhard Richter, David Hockney, Keith Haring, Ellsworth Kelly, Josef Albers and others. 5-8pm.
FF Fellini’s #9 200 W. Market St. “Historic Downtown Mall,” featuring watercolor paintings by Lois Kennensohn. 5:30-7pm.
Jefferson School African American Heritage Center 233 Fourth St. NW. “Private Spaces,” featuring a collection of personal images—this time taken on an iPhone instead of with extensive equipment—by professional photographer Yolonda Coles Jones. Noon-6pm.
FF Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. “Summer Perspectives,” featuring work by Isabelle Abbot, Sarah Boyts Yoder and Cate West Zahl. 1-5pm.
McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. In the Sarah B. Smith Gallery, “Visions of Woven Color,” featuring the work of seven artists who employ color and diversity in their weaving; in the Lower Hall Galleries North and South and Upstairs South, a McGuffey members show featuring more than 50 artists working in a variety of media. 5:30-7:30pm.
FF Music Resource Center 105 Ridge St. “A Portrait of Beauty,” an expressionist series of works by Adam Disbrow on the perception of beauty. 5-7pm.
FF New Dominion Bookshop 404 E. Main St. A multimedia exhibition from BozART Fine Art Collective. 5-7pm.
Shenandoah Valley Art Center 26 S. Wayne Ave., Waynesboro. “Sparks of Summer,” a mixed-media exhibition culminating in a collaborative work by seven artists. Opens August 5, 5-7pm.
FF Studio IX 969 Second St. SE. “Infinite Repeats,” featuring collage and silkscreen prints by Thomas Dean. 5-7pm.
FF First Fridays is a monthly art event featuring exhibit openings at many downtown art galleries and additional exhibition venues. Several spaces offer receptions.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released its final environmental impact statement for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline July 21, and it said the proposed 600-mile, $5.5 billion natural gas pipeline will have a “less than significant” impact on the environment.
“The [final environmental impact statement] paints a terrifying picture of a bleak future,” says Ernie Reed, the president of anti-pipeline group Friends of Nelson.
According to Reed, the ACP will eliminate almost 5,000 acres of interior forest habitat and destroy 200 acres of national forests and nearly 2,000 waterbody crossings along its path from West Virginia to North Carolina. “And all this to give Dominion and Duke Energy enough gas to burn our way into hell,” he adds.
Dominion Energy and Duke Energy are the major companies backing the ACP.
Also on July 21, the U.S. Forest Service released a draft of the record of decision, which said the ACP “can be implemented with limited adverse impacts,” and, in its final form, will authorize the use and occupancy of National Forest System land for the ACP through the George Washington and Monongahela national forests.
Environmentalists allege that the documents fail to depict the pipeline’s true effects, and that some biological evaluations, road analyses and consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are incomplete.
“It is interesting that this decision was made by the regional foresters in offices hundreds of miles away from these forests,” says Reed. “No one who has stepped foot in these forests could ever come to such a delusional conclusion.”
FERC found that the ACP could negatively impact seven endangered species: the Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, Roanoke logperch, Madison Cave isopod, clubshell mussel, running buffalo clover and small whorled pogonia.
“It is outrageous that the Forest Service would sign off on a scheme like this with the full knowledge that it will harm endangered species,” says Misty Boos, executive director of environmental group Wild Virginia, which has also been vocal in its opposition to the pipeline.
She says FERC’s final environmental impact statement and the Forest Service’s record of decisions “make it clear that we cannot rely on the federal government to protect our forests and drinking water,” and that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has the authority to reverse the two groups’ decisions.
“All eyes are on the DEQ in the coming weeks,” Boos says. “They must do what the feds have not and choose our safety over private profits.”
Wild Virginia will submit a formal objection to the draft record of decision, and “litigation is certain to follow,” according to a press release.
Dominion continues to assert that its pipeline will be safe for all.
“Over the last three years, we’ve taken unprecedented steps to protect environmental resources and minimize impacts on landowners,” says Leslie Hartz, Dominion Energy’s vice president of engineering and construction. She says her team has made more than 300 route adjustments to avoid environmentally sensitive areas. “In many areas of the project, we’ve adopted some of the most protective construction methods that have ever been used by the industry.”
Construction on the pipeline could begin by the end of the year, according to Dominion.
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor Sam Shepard, author of Buried Child, died July 27 from complications related to Lou Gehrig’s disease, according to a family member. Shepard lived with actress Jessica Lange on a farm near Scottsville for 10 years until the mid-’90s. He was 73.
Longtime Charlottesville High School environmental sciences educator Rick Wellbeloved-Stone, 56, was arrested July 27 for possessing child pornography. Police Captain Gary Pleasants says the victim is younger than high school-age and the photos were taken in a school setting without the victim’s knowledge. Wellbeloved-Stone’s employment has been suspended and police suggest federal charges could follow.
Four city police officers prevented a 21-year-old man from jumping off the Market Street Parking Garage last weekend. Officer Jose Sanchez positioned himself out of sight behind the man and pulled him to safety after the man said, “Tell my mom I’m sorry,” to someone on his cell phone, hung up and began scooting to the ledge of the five-story garage.
A crime spree last summer netted three teens and a 24-year-old lengthy sentences for a home invasion, carjacking, kidnapping and robbery of five commercial businesses including a 7-Eleven and several pizza restaurants. Head honcho Terence Tyree, 19, was sentenced to 360 months in prison.
“To this overt display of white nationalism, and to the less visible systemic foundations of white supremacy, we say no!”—Brittany Caine-Conley with Congregate C’Ville
Charlottesville hasn’t only been in the national spotlight for Confederate statue controversies and Ku Klux Klan rallies. We often get picked up by The Onion, too. And because we could use a lighter note, here’s a look at some of our favorite headlines from the past few years.
The Virginia State Crime Commission wants your opinion on whether personal possession of marijuana should be decriminalized in the commonwealth. Send written comments to vsccinfo@vscc.virginia.gov or 1111 E. Broad St., Suite B036 in Richmond by August 25.
The group will present its findings at the October 5 Crime Commission meeting.
White nationalist-event organizer Jason Kessler obtained a special event insurance policy for his Unite the Right rally planned for August 12 in Emancipation Park, although the city does not require one for demonstrations. Good thing for Kessler, because newly uncovered problems with the insurance policy and with the certificate issued as proof of it have apparently led to cancellation of the policy.
Kessler obtained a one-day liability policy online from East Main Street Insurance Services in Grass Valley, California. Kessler’s event, which will include white nationalists such as Richard Spencer, anti-Semitic speakers like the Traditionalist Worker Party’s Matt Heimbach and attendees including the National Socialist Movement, was described as an “outdoor meeting” for underwriting purposes.
C-VILLE Weekly obtained a copy of Kessler’s certificate of insurance on file in City Hall and spoke with an insurance professional who has reviewed it and discussed it with the insurer. The expert spoke with us on the condition of not being publicly named.
The certificate identifies the insurance provider as Evanston Insurance, “which is part of the Markel group,” says the insurance professional, “and I know people at that insurance company and it didn’t seem very likely to me that they would knowingly insure an event like the one that was supposed to happen on August 12th. …I provided [Markel] with a copy of the certificate. I provided them with details about what the actual event was and suggested that they might want to look into it.”
In an email provided to C-VILLE, a representative of the company indicated that an increase in risk will now lead to cancellation of the policy.
Factors that increased the liability risk of Kessler’s rally since the policy was issued include plans for thousands of people to attend rather than the 400 that Kessler indicated in his permit application, according to C-VILLE’s source. He held a press conference surrounded by the Warlocks, a “1%” motorcycle gang, and Kessler now says people misunderstood their role and believed the Warlocks would be providing security for the rally rather than just for the press conference. Chapters of the Warlocks have been investigated by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies and charged with multiple counts of murder, drug and weapons charges, and possession of stolen property.
The increased number of attendees is likely to exceed the park’s capacity to hold them, and city police closed surrounding streets for the smaller KKK rally July 8. A state law requires event organizers to provide proof of liability coverage (with the locality named as an additional insured) if a public street is blocked off.
Additionally, the certificate of insurance provided to the city was altered and some standard language was stricken.
Markel’s agents who sell this type of policy are prohibited from rewriting the policy, and Virginia law says a certificate of insurance can’t be altered unless the policy has also been changed to match that wording, says the local expert.
Under the section marked “Certificate Holder,” rather than listing the City of Charlottesville and the address of City Hall, Kessler made Lee Park the certificate holder and gives the physical address of the park as the address to which any notice of cancellation should be mailed. No mailbox or office exists in Lee Park, which has since been renamed Emancipation Park.
Kessler would not confirm or deny the cancellation of his insurance policy, but maintains no coverage is required.
“I was never legally required to obtain insurance for the event,” Kessler says by email. “Demonstrations are not required to have insurance because it would be an undue burden on First Amendment expression. I got it anyway to help lower the risk for the city.”
Update August 2: Kessler says the Warlocks will not be providing security August 12 and they were only present to protect him during his July 11 press conference.
